I think the next post became rather long as I suddenly found myself going off on some side stories. I hope you will still enjoy it!
Monday, February 12
Breakfast was uneventful, we continued eating those Kone desserts.
Lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe (MGM Studios)
I think this is one of the best themed restaurants. Already the outside is fun, it is actually built to look like an appartment house:
I also really like the interior, especially the TV tables. However, being a party of two we were not seated at one of those:
This was our second time at the 50's PTC and I always wanted to get a really fun server. Last time our server was nice, but she was not too playful, perhaps she was not sure how much foreigners would appreciate the special atmosphere. I had thought about asking specifically at check in for a fun server (and was encouraged by a number of people here on the boards to do so). However, as mentioned before the people at the desk where we checked in were not very friendly at all. We arrived around 5 min before our ADR at 12 pm and even though there was no line at all the lady checking us in was very quick with everything and sending us directly to our table before I could mention my request. It is not that she was rude, but she somehow made me feel like I was intruding and bothersome because I wanted to eat there. I am certain that I am not overly sensitive, after all Germany is not known for excellency in customer service and very often when travelling in the US, also outside of WDW, I am amazed at the level of service received. But with the exception of Jiko and California Grill on this trip all cast members at the check in desks of the restaurants and those who brought us to our tables were really not friendly. Our waiters on the other hand were all very good or even great, so I do not think it could have something to do with the dining plan.
We ended up with a nice server and she told us to set the table, but I got the feeling that she was not very comfortable in playing the role servers are supposed to play there. Besides having to set the table, there was not much going on at our table and we did witness a bit of interaction at other tables, but not much. I was wondering whether being two adults also stopped the servers from doing funny things with us?
This was going to be the second meal where we would split 1 TS credit for the two of us to save for our signature dinners. We both wanted to get the Peanut Butter and Jelly Milkshake for a drink and were planning on paying for one. However, there was a misunderstanding with our server and we just got one milkshake poured in two glasses. As the milkshake comes in the metal cup in which it is mixed, there was actually plenty and afterwards we were quite glad that we had not gotten one each, but one to share! The milkshake is fantastic! If you like peanuts, I am sure you will love it!
As starter we ordered the onion rings and as main course the Chicken Sandwich. For some reason both were brought out at the same time. As they went well together, we did not mind this. Especially because we wanted to get out into the park as soon as possible anyway. But if someone would have wanted a relaxing meal, this would have felt very rushed.
These are the onion rings:
They were a bit greasy (but I guess, there is no way to make onion ring so that they are not greasy!) but very crisp and fresh. They were served with a horseradish dip which we both liked a lot.
I forgot to take a picture of the sandwich before we split it, so this only half a sandwich:
It was a good sandwich and I was fully satisfied with having just half of it as my lunch.
I really did not need a dessert, but Carola could not resist the Brownie Sundae. I would have liked to try the angel food cake as this always seemed to me a very special American cake, but since I did not really want dessert anyway, it would have been stupid to push my choice and the eat only a tiny bit of it.
To me the sundae seemed huge, it was a generous size brownie, topped with ice cream, whipped cream, m&ms, caramel corn, caramel sauce and chocolate sauce. I tried a bit of it and really liked the caramel corn, another American speciality to me!
Carola absolutely loved it and tried her best to finish it, but really couldn't!
I am not sure whether I would return to 50's Prime Time Cafe. I really like the look of it, but much of the menu does not appeal to me that much. With regard to the quality I thought it was not better than for example Sunshine Seasons. I still love the theming and I would love to have a really fun server one day. Perhaps I need to find an American family to adopt me next time??? I think, if I would travel with someone who has never eaten there, I would return, but otherwise I guess I would rather try SciFi for a change.
Dinner at California Grill (Contemporary):
That day was one of the Pirate and Princess Parties and we had long thought about whether we wanted to go to one of these. We finally decided that there was no real need as we would mainly have gone for the extra park time, but we had 7 full days for the parks anyway. Besides, we were not really sure how late we would want to stay up considering the 6 hours time difference. But we decided to take advantage of the fireworks and combine those with a visit to the California Grill. We started the evening with a short hop into the MK to see Wishes before the park closed for the non-party guests. Then we did at short trip around Bay Lake on the monorail and visited the Grand Floridean where we decided that of all the hotels we had seen, we loved AKL the best (if anyone is interested in my review of AKL go there:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1484743
Our ADR was for 8 pm and we got to the check in desk on the fourth floor around 10 min early. We had some trouble finding the desk, but two really nice (and fun) cast members at the DVC stand could point us into the right direction. I am not sure whether I would be able to find the desk again on my own, but since there are always friendly cast members around to ask that's no problem.
This time we had the most pleasant experience checking in for our ADR! We were told that they were unfortunately running behind a bit (20 min or so), so there would be a wait. We got our beeper and asked whether it would also work on the lobby level as we wanted to look around the shops there. They were not sure about that (considering that the restauant is several stories higher, I could understand that there might be a problem), but they said if would be back to take an elevator up in 15 min, there would be no problem at all! So this is what we did. We came back to the desk and a lovely lady escorted us up on the elevator. She chatted with us and was very excited that we should have a great meal at the restaurant. We came to talk about the observation deck and when we got upstairs she actually took the time to show us where we would get to the different observation decks and told us not to be shy but go wherever we wanted in the restaurant to have a look. Since we were told that the beeper would work out there as well, we explored a bit, enjoyed the view over to Epcot as well as to the MK and then found a seat in the rather crowded bar area. Carola went to find the bathroom and while she was away I saw the lady who had escorted us up talk to another cast member and pointing towards me. It turned out that our beeper had started to go off some time ago, but I had placed it in my handbag and had not heard it due to noise levels!
I was very embarassed, but they made me feel like it was a common mistake. I think since they actually get a slip for all parties who have come up with the elevator they know you are there and actually go to find you.
We were seated by another very friendly cast member who was very excited that we were from Germany because he used to live there for some time. Our server was Jenny and she was great! The receipt actually states the servers name as Jenny O, so I think there might be more than one Jenny, but I can very much recommend Jenny O!
Jenny was very precise in explaining the dining plan to us and what we could have. First we ordered drinks and Carola was delighted that she could get French bottled water as her drink on the dining plan. She absolutely hated the Florida tap water (yes, it tastes funny, but I did not mind so much), but she also hated the bottled water. I actually have to agree that even the bottled water tastes strange for us. I have a water filter at home and like using the filtered water for tea or coffee, but do not like drinking it on its own. I think most of the bottled water tasted like the filtered water. Here in Europe, most bottled water is actual mineral water, so perhaps all those minerals make the taste we are used to???
We got some bread, which we really liked a lot:
I think it is sourdough bread. I found this very interesting, as sourdough bread is still very common in Germany, but it is traditionally made from a mixture of wheat and rye flour and comes in lots of different varieties. If anyone is interested in having a look at German "Sauerteigbrot" go here:
http://www.hofpfisterei.de/hpf_sortiment_natursauerteigbrote.php If you click on a slice it will show you the loaf. The California Grill sourdough is very different from our bread, but I liked it a lot. However, I found it to be less sour than the bread I tried in San Francisco. I love dipping my bread in oil and this was very mild and fruity.
Jenny explained that we could get sushi for a starter if we wanted to, with the exception of the sushi sampler and I think the snake in the grass , which would be counted as main dishes. We took our time reading the menu and already at that point fell in love with the cheese selection and were considering this for desert. But first we ordered our starters.
I had the Tuna Three Ways:
It is actually sushi, the rice and the nori are in the middle of plate. I love tuna and this was very good tuna, very soft and tasty. I liked all three ways very much and could not really find one that was my favourite. It does not look like a lot of food, but it was, the plate is really quite big. You can see the cucumber slices at the bottom left. Those were normal sized cucumber slices, so you can see, there was actually quite a lot of fish on my plate! I really loved this starter and would be very tempted to get it again even though there are a lot of other interesting options on the menu!
Carola got a lobster salad:
She said it was very good, but I got the impression that she had expected something different, so she was slightly dissappointed at first. I did not try it, so I can't comment. I think she finished it all despite being afraid of getting problems with her main dish afterwards.
After having been a bit dissappointed with my steak at Kona Cafe, I knew I would want to get the Filet of Beef and that is what I got. Here at home I would normally order a steak medium rare. But I had read so many reviews how WDW restaurants tend to undercook steaks, so I was a bit afraid, I would get a more or less raw piece of beef. However, at Kona I had been very happy with my medium rare steak, so I ordered it medium rare here, too. Jenny confused me a bit because she started giving me the definition of medium rare and asking whether this was what I wanted. It included something about a red centre and this made me suddenly very unsure and I started to be very undecided. To be on the safe side, I ordered it medium. And then found out, I would have preferred it medium rare. It was still a fantastic piece of meat!
The broccolini was intriguing, I never had seen broccoli in this way. There was also potatoe gratin under the steak. I did not really enjoy the potaotes. They were a bit dry for gratin for my taste and there seemed to be a rather strong spice on it which I did not approve of too much. But I did not mind this too much as I had such a big steak to eat and would rather finish that than my potatoes! The barbecue sauce was also very good.
I really liked my main dish a lot, but afterwards regreted a bit that I had not chosen something a bit more special. Being able to get good steaks is one thing I like about eating out in the USA, but other dishes at California Grill might have been a more exciting and unique taste. Well, I guess that is another one of the many reasons why I have to return to WDW soon!!
I also had a glass of red wine with my steak. Jenny recommended it after I told her what kind of wines I liked and it was very good.
Carola had some sea bass, I think it was wrapped in parma ham and served on grains. I think it was something like a risotto made from wheat, if that makes sense. She really loved this dish. I have no memory of trying it, sorry, this is one of the downfalls of doing the review 4 months after we have been there.
You can see the Evian bottle in the background.
Jenny brought out the dessert menu during our main course and asked whether we would want to order one of the desserts that would take more time to prepare. We did not get the cheese menu again, but asked whether we could get the cheese selection for our dessert. Jenny said we could, but never asked whether we wanted 3 or 5 cheeses and 5 cheeses appeared. So it seems, the 5 cheese selection is included in the dining plan. She also brought the menue again so that we would know what we were eating:
We were very intrigued by the name "Bergblume" as this is actually German, but it seemed to be a cheese from Switzerland, where they speak German in some regions. We then each got this enormous board:
The cheeses were very strong, which was no problem as I like strong cheese. I just found this interesting as I would normally expect a cheese selection to include a very mild and creamy cheese as well. The individual pieces of cheese were very large. You can see the bottom of my wine glass on the picture as a reference to size. After all the food before I was mainly just able to taste each of the cheeses. They were absolutely fantastic! I was just so sad of all the food we wasted. We would not have been able to finish one portion between the two of us!
Just before the cheese was served, the fireworks were announced and we went out on the observation deck to see the fireworks. It was a mild night and I had my glass of wine, they piped in the music and we saw these fantastic fireworks. It was just great!! I actually thought it was a very romantic atmosphere (unfortunately wasted on us single girls) and would always prefer to step out there to see the fireworks! I can see that having a window table when it is still light outside would be great, but for seeing the fireworks, I would prefer not to have to see through glass!
We left the California Grill at 10:20 pm and originally had planned to take the bus from the MK (we had planned all our meals at resorts so that we could use a park that was open late as transfer point to get home to avoid having to go all the way to Downtown Disney to transfer). But we were so tired and full that we wanted to get back to AKL as soon as possible and therefore took a cab. This was easy, we just exited the lobby and asked a cast member and there was actually a cab waiting outside.
I have eaten at a number of highly rated restaurants here in Europe and I love well prepared food. I think California Grill deserves its signature restaurant status very well and I loved our experience there. As others have mentioned, it is indeed a very noisy restaurant, but I did not find it disturbing. I loved the fact that it was actually quite spacious in there and that we were seated at a big table that could accomodate up to four people. The service was excellent, all the cast members we encountered were great. The firework experience is unique. All in all it was great and I would love to return there on my next visit to Florida, possibly asking for a counter seat then, that sounds like fun. After the meal I thought that this would be the best meal of the trip. But it was actually beaten by Jiko.
But this will not be until the day after the next, on our last night... Next coming up is lunch at Cosmic Ray and dinner at Boma.
, but did not really want to change my username either... 
I am afraid, a trip report seems to be such a huge project that I feel a bit daunted by the thought of writing one myself.
Just in case you are thinking that 'floss' in English only refers to dental floss, GUESS WHAT??? 
We also have Candy Floss, which is spun sugar. very sweet and delicious. So between 
the reviews now I already know what I will be eating in Sept.
